When I Awoke
by Tumerboy12
Summary: A Fire Emblem 6 and 7/13 crossover. Starts out in Ylisse.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"No!" I cried out as I awoke. In my panic, I checked the clock on the wall opposite me. 4:38 or so it would have me believe.

With a still racing heart I tumbled feet first out of my warm bed, intending to get an early start to my morning; since there was no way I was getting back to sleep after whatever it was I just experienced. However in my grogginess I failed to notice some key things as I made my way to what should have been the bathroom.

The first thing or series of things that went unnoticed by me if you prefer is that the moment I opened my bedroom door I no longer found myself in my home. Rather, I was in a fantastical alleyway that seemed to belong to a hamlet in The Canterbury Tales. The second thing was the sun and how when I finally noticed it it didn't seem to correlate with the early morning or mid December sunrise that I had grown up with in Minnesota. Instead it seemed more accurate to describe the experience as the afternoon sun of mid Spring.

Although it wasn't until I walked into a side door of an inn that should have been my bathroom that I woke up a little and things started to click. That and the big guy who probably ran the place who was currently screaming at me certainly did wonders.

"Hey! Are you daft or somethin'?! You can't be back here, get out before I call the guard!" The burly innkeeper bellowed in agitation.

"Everybody run for your lives bandits have…" A voice from outside called out as its owner was presumably either cut down by the very bandits they sought to warn us about or trampled by a mob of people fleeing them.

"Well great, and if I didn't know better I'd say those dastards set the church on fire." The burly counter master said gagging a little at the scented cocktail of smoke, incenses, scented candles, whatever it was they used to embalm the dead, and still burning flesh; most likely of some now deceased person who was unfortunate enough to be in the church when the fire started.

"Hey kid, get your head out of your ass and help me lock this place down." The inn keeper whispered to me in urgency as my hair began to stand on end.

"Hey loot them then burn the place down, it's not that hard to remember you know."

"You got a source?" I asked the hairy burly innkeeper, shaking my head at the absurdity of what I had just subconsciously committed myself to doing.

"Eh you mean like a tome, for magic and all that?" The man queried not bothering to look at me directly as he scurried about his establishment in what we both knew would be a vain attempt to protect what little he had along with whoever else was inside.

"Yeah I usually try to keep a weapon or two in respectable condition just in case, there's also a few lost & found boxes courtesy of some forgetful travelers who haven't come back. But you aren't seriously thinkin' about going out there now are you?" The man answered.

"Somebody has to, unless you want to burn alive." I retorted evenly. To which the innkeepers initial response was to open his mouth, gape like a fish then close it again.

His second response was to hurry back behind the counter and pull out a sword still in it's scabbard and a second much bigger and heavier looking box from which he immediately started pulling out all sorts of clothes and armors and setting them on the counter.

"Well what do you think you're doin' just standing around, hurry up and put the things in this pile on." The man barked while gesturing to a couple growing piles of stuff in his proximity, all of which looked like it could fit me well enough.

"I'll work on getting you some ranged options, sorry to say that it won't be magic since I don't seem to have any tomes." He said as I started to change.

"Do you happen to have a belt for the sword?" I asked cringing as a rather crucial reality about my situation hit me, I was still in my pajamas.

"It's in the pile." Was what I got as a response before he went back to mumbling to himself.

It didn't take me long to finish changing, and when I did I noticed that there were in fact two belts in the pile of clothes and armor. The first one was clearly meant to be for a sword and to go around the waist however I couldn't quite figure out why he'd taken out the second one which appeared to function more as a harness or sash.

"Uh what's this second belt for?" I asked as I fastened the belts where they seemed to go.

"Knives." The Innkeeper replied as he carefully stuck three of the sharpened kitchen implements into the notches on the half sash half belt and handing me a much larger looking dagger.

"Well what are you waiting for, go get those thugs!" The man bear hybrid barked at me practically shoving out the front door as he did.

Now that I was more awake and alert I was able to discern that this inn was probably somewhere close to the center of town if the church in the distance and now over turned stalls were to tell me anything. This meant that these bandits would likely be spending the most time here in this area of town.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing out here? Think your some kind of hero?" A bandit whose name I wasn't going to remember in all likelihood called out. As he said this a few of his cohorts in the vicinity stopped what they were doing and either moved to cut off an escape route or started sizing me up from a distance with the intent to jump in at a moments notice if thing started headed south for their friend in the impending confrontation. Thankfully I was able to hide the dagger up my sleeve before they saw it was out.

"Now, since you seem to be armed and capable of combat and I like to consider myself a fair man I'll give you a choice; you can fight with us and live or die like all the other fools who have dared to cross blades with us." The gorilla of a man asked baring a wicked sneer as he said the second half of his proposition. It probably didn't make a difference whether I joined him or not he would see me dead one way or another and he knew it. Taking all this into account I knew what I had to do.

Steeling my resolve once more I began to take slow and deliberate steps toward the walking slab of fat and muscle that may well have me cleaved in half before I'm even halfway to him either with his ax or an allies.

"Well this is a surprise, someone in this town actually has some sense to them." The bandit smirked to two of his approaching comrades, a sword wielder and another ax wielder.

Of the three of them the sword wielder seemed to be stoic and cautious not to mention that he seemed to be analyzing me with his hand constantly gripping his weapon while the second ax user appeared to be antsy or perhaps over eager.

When I was almost within striking range of the three of them, the swordsman decided to charge in and attack me with an upward slash coming directly from the sheath on his right side and given how telegraphed it was, I would have been able dodge his attack just fine had I taken a hop or two backwards or to the left however these men were already more experienced than I was so a prolonged confrontation wouldn't have been a good idea. This meant dodging was a no go.

In an attempt to counter my assailants aggression, I rushed under the swing and inside his guard. My opponents life was over moments later and for a brief moment we both just stood there starring at each other as blood leaked from his stab wound and trickled out of his mouth, while I on the other hand was silently struggling to remove my weapon from the mans torso. Then all hell broke loose.

"Shepherds to arms!" Came a voice in the distance.

"Ah damn me Shepherds. You two go to the church and get the boss, the rest of us will handle this." The first ax wielding ape in charge ordered. His lackeys obeyed without question.

However in this chaos and partly because I was still struggling with getting the blade out of my attackers chest cavity I failed to notice that the second ax wielder had moved around me so that he was flanking me from an angle and was about to strike me down with a swing that was even more telegraphed than that of his dead companions.

"Perhaps you should try twisting it as you pull your weapon." A deep voice came from somewhere close by and to the left of me.

I turned toward the figure. My eyes growing wide with a mix of emotions played across my face as the silhouette of an armored man on a horse filled my vision.

"Here like this." The horseman said as he grabbed the dagger by the handle twisted it and removed it from the mans sternum all in one fluid motion. However with my weapon now free I was now able to take in things like my surroundings or the fact that I was fairly certain I had almost died. Neither of these things were pleasant.

"Hey, are you alright? You look a little green." A familiar bluenette man whose name I had almost forgotten said as he approached me having already dealt with a few bandits himself I'm sure.

"Perhaps this is his first time in actual life or death combat?" The knight who I now knew was Frederick supplied.

"If that's the case than I suggest we leave him here for the time being, his inexperience will only slow us down." A tall man in a black and purple coat with gold accents advised.

"Yes I know that but what about the town we can't just leave it in this state. And even so I wouldn't feel right just leaving him here." Chrom replied.

"Perhaps milord would would also note that there are no more brigands in the area, so we should be fine leaving this one here for the time being at least." Sir Frederick noted.

"Excuse me, but what about the bandits in the church?" I interjected before their conversation could leave me behind any further.

"There are more in the church?" Chrom inquired turning toward me.

"How did you come across this information?" The knight butler asked his gaze turning hard and suspicious.

"One of the bandits you killed told some of his underlings to go to church and get their boss." I replied coolly.

"If that's true than we would be remiss not to investigate at the very least." The white haired man stated plainly.

"Well put Robin, and besides these fires will still need to be put out." The blue haired prince replied.

"Hey! You sheep over there are dead meat ya here me!" The apparent bandit leader howled as he rushed out of the church followed by three of his underlings two of which were using axes.

"Glad to know all these goons were just playing pretend at murder." I mumbled as everyone settled into a battle ready stance and Robin issued his advice.

"Um pardon me sir…" Robin said trailing off into a question that he must not have known how to start.

"It's Dylan and I'm not a knight so there's no sir." I replied turning toward the white haired tactical genius.

"Well if it's all the same to you Dylan, I was thinking that we will need someone to take care of their caster." Robin said.

"And you want this someone to be me?" I asked already knowing my answer.

"Well I mean if you wouldn't mind." The tactician stammered nervously.

"It's fine I'd be happy to help so long as you can tell me what I'm signing up for." I interrupted before he could squirm too much.

"Well it's like I said we need you to take care of the enemy mage so that he won't be a problem for those of us who are going to engage the remainder of their force." Robin supplied helpfully.

"So I'll be fighting him by myself?" I asked trying to mask the sudden wave of uncertainty washing over me.

"Yes, at the start at least, but we'll try to get someone to you if you need it." Robin answered thankfully not picking up on my nerves.

"Alright than, we engage the enemy together, Lissa you hang back until we've cornered their leader and watch out for ranged weapons. Understand?" Chrom ordered to which we all gave our affirmations and got into the positions that were designated to us.

When the order to charge was finally given Frederick not surprisingly left us all behind as his horse moved the two of them with all the speed and grace of an angry T-Rex that had found it's next meal. Chrom was the first to recover from the sight followed by Robin who broke off to support the prince and my still flabbergasted self.

"Now where's that caster?" I muttered once I got to where the enemies now tattered front lines had been. Thankfully I didn't have to wait for very long before the mage revealed himself to me by hurling a fireball at my chest only for us both to be momentarily stunned when it just fizzled out harmlessly against my torso.

The mage who had clearly been expecting something more to happen, tried slinging another spell at me except this time I was ready for and was able to dodge out of the way while clearing most of the distance between us. What I didn't count on was him casting another two spells in a panicked frenzy one sailed at my head and the other flew hard and fast into my chest both scoring hits and one would probably leave me with no eyebrows for a while. As you can likely imagine this mage was terrified when he realized that I wasn't dead, but by that point I was already inside his guard and drawing on him.

Our battle was over moments later with the caster lying dead in his own blood and me with some unpleasant thoughts to deal with as I rejoined the group.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

We were in the woods now and had been for quite some time and would be journeying for longer still if the light filtering down through the canopy was anything to go by.

"So Dylan was it?" An all too familiar deep voice questioned, knocking me from my internal reverie and nearly causing me to jump out of my own skin.

"Yes I am, and you must be?" I asked trailing off hoping the knight would introduce himself for me though only once I managed to get my heart rate under control.

"You may call me Sir Frederick." The knight retainer replied curtly.

"Alright Sir Frederick, is there anything I can help you with?" I asked since it was probably safe to assume that he wasn't here on a social call.

"No not at present. But know this I have my eyes on you, and should you even think of hurting either my lord or lady you will be sorry." Frederick warned sternly.

"Got it." I replied trying to sound upbeat about what I had just been told.

"See that you do have it." The knight nodded before returning to the front where it appeared that Chrom and Lissa were having one of their sibling banter sessions.

"Yuck! I think I swallowed it."

Or maybe Lissa just swallowed a bug.

"We should probably stop for the night I don't know about everyone else but I'm starving." Robin said.

"Plus it will be dark soon, so it would be best to set up camp now while there's still some light to work with." I added.

"Indeed, it would seem that some hunting and gathering is in order. Now since milady doesn't want to gather firewood with her brother perhaps she would be willing to help clear the campsite with another." Frederick said assigning both Chrom and Lissa to their respective duties.

"I'll help gather firewood if that's alright with everyone else." I supplied trying to be helpful.

"Than it seems I shall hunt for tonight's dinner and Robin shall help milady with the campsite." The great knight answered with a stoic sense of finality as he walked out of the clearing we were apparently in.

"Hey Dylan, Chrom's taking us to where we'll be camping for tonight. Are you coming or not?" Robin said tapping my shoulder.

Or maybe Chrom is going to take us all on an off trail hike to our actual campsite first.

"Yeah sorry about that I was just preoccupied." I answered as Robin led us back to where Chrom and Lissa were waiting for us.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but what's on your mind?" Chrom interjected.

"Yeah, I mean I know Chrom and I haven't known either of you for very long but I for one feel that Dylan here is, off." Lissa said clearly trying to be helpful but coming up short on how to describe the definite funk I was in.

"Lissa!" Chrom chided.

"Oh come on big brother I can tell that your thinking it too at the very least." Lissa said indignantly.

"I don't know what your talking about, and more to the point this looks like a good place to set up camp for the night.

"Hey, don't avoid the topic that you brought up in the first place!" Lissa called after the retreating form of her brother.

"I think what your brother means is that there's a time and place for all things and this is not the best time for that topic of conversation to say the least." I said probably sounding wiser than I should have.

"Yeah I guess. But don't think for a moment that this means you don't have to not talk about whatever it is that's eating you mister." Lissa said turning on me with an Ace Attorney Objection pose pointed at me that almost made me loose my composure.

"Wouldn't dream of it." I replied with a small smile.

"Good."

"Well if you'll excuse me I have to go find your brother." I said excusing myself from Lissa's presence.

"Yeah you do that, just don't get lost." Lissa replied as I scurried out of the clearing.

Great now which way did Chrom go?

"Where did Dylan go?" Chrom's voice echoed toward me through the trees.

"He just went to help you with gathering firewood." Lissa's voice responded.

"Oh well that really isn't necessary, I've got us more than enough wood to last us through dinner." Came Chrom's reply.

Never mind back to camp it is.

And holy mother of creation is that an entire tree?!

"Oh Dylan, good you're back. Say do you think you could help us set up the fire pit?" Chrom asked.

"Sure, what do you guys need help with." I said enthusiastically.

"Well I was going to take Robin to look for stones to line the outside of the pit with, but none of us have any idea what kind of stones to look for." Chrom replied sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head.

Seriously?!

"Well first of all we're going to want stones that are big but not too big and heavy enough to not be moved around by every little thing since we don't want them to roll away or into the fire, they should also be relatively dry for what I hope I don't have to explain." I replied forcing a mask of stoicism to my face.

"Ah I see. In that case we'll be right back." Chrom said as he and Robin wandered off to find rocks for our bonfire.

I don't know how much time I spent either helping Lissa get camp ready or putting off talking about or just flat out ignoring the metaphorical elephant with her but when Chrom and Robin got back to camp with all the necessary stones and Frederick arrived with our dinner of bear meat I knew I couldn't not talk about it for much longer.

"So Dylan, my sister tells me that you have been disinclined to talk about yourself so far but nevertheless I'd like to know something about you." Chrom said as he sat himself down next to me.

"Well it's not that necessarily, It's just that; well what's your first question?" I ended up saying.

"Ah so here's where everyone's camping for the night than?" A loud throaty voice breached the clearing causing us both to look to the owner who had gray hair styled in a buzz cut and a chiseled face with a few scattered scars on his face.

"My name's Adrian, hope you don't mind me dropping in." Adrian introduced as he sat himself across from me his heavier armor clicking and creaking as he did.

"Not at all, though Frederick may well have something to say about all this." Lissa said as she sat down next to me on my left.

"Yes, I believe that I shall. But for now I believe that Milord was going ask a question of one of our esteemed companions." Frederick replied getting the attention of the group back to where he thought it should be, which was coincidentally right where I didn't want it.

"Right well I've never heard accents quite like yours, so where are you two from?" Chrom asked clearly not meaning any harm.

"Alaska." Adrian answered plainly.

"I think I can speak for all of us when I say that I've never heard of that place." Frederick said as he booted up interrogator mode.

"Of course you haven't it's very far away." Adrian deflected with ease and stoicism.

"I take it by that that you mean farther than Valm." Frederick asked as he began serving up the bear.

"Yup." Was the answer Adrian gave before everyone minus Frederick and Lissa began eating the bear meat, which I'll have you know tasted gamey and smokey but was other wise nothing special.

"So Dylan you never said where you were from." Lissa piped up, effectively drawing everyone's attention away from whatever dinner conversations they'd been having with Adrian.

"Oh I'm from a place called Minnesota." I answered truthfully after a short internal debate.

"Is this place anything like Adrian's home state of Alaska?" Chrom asked clearly curious about the place I called home.

So for the next Thirty minutes or so I answered questions to the best of my ability about my home state and the United States and greater world as a whole in general as well as more personal topics like what do you do for a living or what's the weather like where you guys live that were ultimately directed toward the group as whole. Thankfully Adrian had laid some basic understanding for them to work with a lot of times I was just giving a brief re explanation of something Adrian had already talked a little about, and Adrian would also chime in with something of his own to add so I wasn't having to do all the explaining by myself.

"Well as fascinating as all this I think it would be best to turn in for the night now." Frederick interjected, mercifully cutting off any further lines of questioning until morning.

"Right, we'll need to get an early start tomorrow if we want to make it to the capitol before midday." Chrom said as everyone began preparing to go to their own area for some well needed rest, well everyone except Frederick and myself.

"You should get some sleep." Frederick grumbled.

"Fine. For you I'll try, but wake me if you need me." I muttered deciding that for once it really would be better to be at least somewhat rested rather not at all.

After getting what I hoped was nod in response from the knight retainer I stumbled a small distance away from the fire and began using my arm as a pillow. This quickly turned into me looking up at the very different night sky and quietly marveling at just how far from home I really was and pondering just how far would I go in this new world.

The answer to the first unasked question was far enough for there to be different constellations but not far enough to not see the North Star. The answer to the second question was harder to comprehend seeing as how I knew next to nothing about why I was here in the first place, or if there even was a why to begin with.

I don't know how long it took, but I was eventually shaken from my internal dilemma by the feeling that something was very, very wrong. Thankfully it didn't take me long to figure out what that was.

Silence. Not a sound could be heard from the forest around us. Which could only mean one thing, something very bad was about to happen.

Time to wake up, time to wake everyone up. However, at this point nature decided it was more than appropriate to give its own wake up call to our merry band by loudly changing the very terrain around us, with what was undoubtedly a series of groundbreaking roars from beneath our feet.

"Where are my lord and lady?!" Frederick snarled at me as he promptly grabbed me by my shoulders and shook.

"How should I know?" I retorted.

"Than where is Adrian?" Frederick growled.

"Both of you stop it! This isn't a time for us to quarrel among ourselves, what we should be doing is getting the heck out of here to find our missing friends." Robin interjected.

"I can't believe he just left us behind." Robin said as Frederick rode off into the night of chaos around us on his horse.

"Really that's what you can't believe?" I said shooting Robin an incredulous look that he may or may not have saw.

"Okay your right, his horse is way more unbelievable but that's not to say that him leaving us to catch up isn't on an ever growing list of things." Robin admitted sheepishly as we jogged after the mounted knight who thankfully left a fresh trail of trampled twigs, leaves and upturned dirt for us to follow.

And now I smell smoke.

"Dylan look, up in the sky!" Robin exclaimed causing me to look upward.

What I saw was neither an unexpected or a welcome sight, it was as if a cyclops had placed it's eye up against the fabric of the night sky just to look down at us.

"I think I see things falling out of whatever that thing in the sky is." Robin said his voice shaking me from my introspection.

"EEEEEK!"

"That sounded like Lissa, come on through here." I practically commanded as I charged toward the sound of the screaming with my sword drawn.

The scene I witnessed as I crossed over into the clearing could only be described as hell on earth, complete with the walking dead. Although it seems we arrived on the scene just in time to see a series of other sky holes open in the distance.

"Milord! Milady! Are you hurt?" Frederick asked.

"Frederick! Robin! Dylan!" Lissa gasped.

"Are such terrifying creatures commonplace in these lands?" Robin asked.

"No, they are not from Ylisse. I can promise you that much at least." Chrom answered.

"Thank the gods no one is injured." Frederick sighed slightly in relief.

"We can give thanks after we've all made it out of this mess alive and in one piece." I retorted causing Frederick to give me a funny look.

"Yes and hopefully I'll be able to put more of these things to the blade while we're at it." Adrian said as he casually sneaked up on our group.

"Right." Chrom replied.

Robin's plan was simple. Simple in that it was really just having Frederick ride towards Chrom and Lissa to support the royal siblings and to get Lissa to the nearest fort once further help arrived in the form of Adrian, Robin and myself. From there we were to fall back to the fort with Lissa and Frederick. However there was one problem with this plan that was now becoming all too apparent now that we were inside the fort, we had just let ourselves be surrounded by an enemy with superior numbers.

"What's the plan now Robin?" Chrom called.

"Look, their lines are collapsing!" Adrian shouted.

"Well what are we waiting for then? Charge!" Chrom commanded.

And that's how I eventually found myself fighting two abominations alongside Sully and Virion.

"Keep those things off of Ruffles so he can get some shots in." Sully commanded after taking one look at me and turning one of the creatures she had been fighting into black vapor with little help from either of us.

"Yes ma'am." I replied trying not to sound too scared of the red head as went off to find the fancy archer whose name I definitely shouldn't have known.

"Look out!" Someone called out from places unseen.

Holy crap that is an ax coming at my face!

Thankfully I was able to duck and roll out of the way of the throw and it's return arc but now I had to find the sender.

"Kill outlander. Kill Paradox." A very large ax carrying zombie growled as it brandished it's over sized weapon towards me with one hand and caught the ax that it presumably threw at me in the other.

"Oh hey there tall, dark and hideous, I take it your the one who threw that ax at me." I said. This prompted the creature to preemptively charge at me, swinging it's ax in a wide and wild arc as he did. This and the fact that who ever this person had been when they were alive had not been very fast allowed me to spin around the entirety of his attack and score some pretty deep cuts into it's pelvis and left leg before finally stabbing upward into what I hoped was its heart provided it even had one of those.

"Jeez! No need to be so testy you know, I'm only taking your …" I was about to say leg but the fiend exploded into a cloud of black miasma, while my mouth was open. This effectively ended my train of thought.

I guess I should go find the others now I mean I don't hear fighting anymore so that can only be a good thing right?


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"I can't believe you were all just going to leave me in that forest!" I grumbled loudly.

"Yes well …"

"That burning forest." I said cutting Chrom off before he could say too much.

"You know what, your right I shouldn't have just left you all alone in that forest I let my worries for my sister cloud my judgment and…"

"Chrom stop, you don't have to apologize for worrying about your family." I interrupted yet again.

"I-I don't, but than why are you so upset?" Chrom asked both surprised and confused.

"I'm upset because from where I stand you didn't even bother waiting, calling out, or even looking for me. I answered plainly.

"Gods your right and again I'm so sorry. Is there anyway Lissa and I can make it up to you?" Chrom said starting to sound more like a broken record than a prince.

"I'm sure the two of you will be able to come up with something." I replied noncommittally.

"Right well come on we'd better get moving, Ylisstol is just over this hill and we've probably kept the others waiting long enough as it is." Chrom said shifting the subject.

"Yeah we should probably hurry up, I don't want Frederick to mobilize the city guard because I took too long griping to you." I half joked though still taking a brief moment at the crest of the hill to take mental snapshot of the beautifully picturesque city below before continuing to jog down at a leisurely pace.

"I know that your jesting but that did actually happen once." Chrom replied without missing a beat.

Wait seriously. He's joking right, I mean he has to be joking. Whatever I'll just ask Frederick about it. Maybe. Oh hey the gates opening. I should probably pay more attention.

"Thank the gods! It seems that the city was mostly spared the madness that we went through last night." Frederick sighed.

"Mostly?" I asked.

"There's some superficial damage to the city's outer wall but no one is hurt." Frederick clarified.

"Well that's a relief, I was worried for a little while there." Lissa replied.

"Well the superficial damage was likely caused by the quake from last night." Chrom cut in.

"So this is Ylisstol the capitol of Ylisse, I've never seen so many people." Robin said in a hushed voice clearly in awe.

I had just opened my mouth to ask Robin how he could have possibly known this when some old guy shouted "Everybody look! The Exalt has come to see us!" Our group immediately turned to where the geezer was pointing to see a group of six or seven armed guards leading the way for a woman with green robes and a scarf lots of roman numerals on it.

"I wonder what she hopes to accomplish with doing this?" I asked myself while Frederick gave Robin an abridged history of the First Exalt.

"Yeah she's also the best big sister that anyone could ask for." Lissa chimed in to the other conversation going on in our group, confirming that I was indeed being ignored for now.

"Wait but if the Exalt is your sister that would mean that you and Chrom are..." Robin trailed off as he silently pieced things together.

"Prince Chrom I implore you please pardon my terrible manners had I known that I was in the …"

"Robin it's fine! Lissa and I have never been much for formalities." Chrom said cutting off the now prostrate tactician with a smile on his face.

"But you said you were shepherds!" Robin cried still on his knees.

"And so we are, just not in the conventional sense." Chrom replied

"We also happen to tend a lot of sheep." Lissa supplied.

"So is the fact that you two are royalty why Frederick puts up with all the japes made at his expense?" Robin asked as he finally decided to stand up.

"Indeed." Frederick replied.

"Well it looks like Emm is heading back to the palace, would you guys like to meet her?" Chrom asked with an ever so charming smile.

"Sounds like an honor." Robin, Adrian, and I said in unison.

The closer we got to the castle the more I noticed that people were giving Robin dirty looks as we passed. Thankfully no one tried to stop us but it was a little odd to think that Chrom and Lissa could be so ignorant as to what the symbols on Robin's coat meant.

"So I take it you've noticed it too?" Adrian whispered to me under his breath.

"You mean the looks that Robin's getting?" I whispered back as we approached the castle gates and Adrian nodded.

The guards at the gates were sadly a bit more forward with their prejudice when they waved Chrom and Lissa through, briefly patted down Adrian and myself, and tried to pull Robin aside for extra screening. And were it not for their oh so virtuous prince and princess they probably would have gotten away with it too. Although this didn't seem to stop them from having a guard tail us at a distance until we were inside the castle itself.

Behind the front door was an immaculate main hall that seemed neither too refined or earthy.

"Hey are you guys coming or are you just going to stand there like slack jawed buffoons?" Lissa called back to Adrian and myself who were obviously impressed by actually being inside a castle that was still seeing use.

"We'll be right there!" Adrian fired back without missing a beat, though he did have to practically drag me the rest of the way to the throne room which was perhaps even more opulent than the main hall.

"Well, it sounds like I as well as Ylisse owes these three young adventurers a debt of gratitude." Emmeryn said smiling slightly.

"Forgive me Your Grace but I must speak," Frederick began "Robin claims to have lost his memory, but it is only that a claim it is far more likely that he is in fact a Plegian spy."

"Fredrick!" Chrom gasped.

"Yet he and two others were allowed into the castle, Chrom are you sure that Robin can be trusted?" Emmeryn asked.

"Yes I do, it's why I'd like to make Robin, Adrian, and Dylan shepherds." Chrom stated matter of factly.

"Well Robin, it seems you and your companions have earned Chroms faith and as such mine as well." Emmeryn replied.

"You are too kind milady." Adrian spoke.

"But thank you, Frederick, for your prudence, as always. I do hope Chrom and Lissa remember to thank you as well from time to time." Emmeryn continued

"They do occasionally express something akin to gratitude, Your Grace." Frederick replied.

"If I might interject Your Grace, but the council will surely have assembled by now." Phila spoke.

"Ah forgive me Chrom, but I'm afraid I must ask you and Frederick to join us for this council meeting since it is about those ghastly creatures that you've likely had to fight to get here. Emmeryn said.

"It's no trouble Emm, Frederick and I are glad to help you in any way we can." Chrom replied falling in step with his sister and their two body guards.

"Well I think that's as good a cue as any, come on boys there's a place that I want to show you." Lissa announced.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Here we are," Lissa cheered as she pranced into the room with the three of us in tow "The Shepherd's garrison! Go on make yourselves at home."

As we filed into the garrison I couldn't help but notice just how gray and empty the whole place was, well aside from the other people in the room who I assumed were other Shepherds.

"Lissa, my treasure!" A blonde noblewoman exclaimed as she rushed the princess and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Are you alright? I've been on pins and needles!"

"Oh hey Maribelle," Lissa said trying to sound casual as she returned the hug.

"Oh hey, yourself," The noblewoman fumed. "I'll have you know that I've sprouted at least 14 gray hairs fretting over you."

"Lissa, perhaps you would like to introduce us to your … friends?" I interjected pausing briefly to find an appropriate word for some of the people that were milling around the room before Robin, Adrian, and myself had walked in. Hopefully we wouldn't become anymore antiquated than what we already were.

"Hey squirt! You're back, but Teach don't see that brother of yours, I bet he's just avoiding me on account of you guys were havin' a hard time without ol' Teach and his trusty ax."

"Oh so your calling yourself Teach now, is that it Vaike? And here I was thinking that people were born lacking in wits and went to school to learn them, not the other way around." Lissa giggled.

"Ha, you all know that the Vaike is able to turn the tables on anyone. Hey wait that was an insult." Vaike said.

"Wow, Vaike you got that faster than I anticipated, good for you." Lissa applauded.

"Um, beg your pardon, but when might we see the captain?" A woman wearing a light pink mini dress and what I assumed were thigh high riding boots and an equally light pink hair clip that was shaped like a pair of wings.

"Huh I wonder if they're ignoring us or if they really don't see us?" I mused aloud as Maribelle began telling Lissa about the happenings that occurred while she was out with her brother.

"Really because I was just pondering whether I should use this newly acquired invisibility to fight crime or cause mischief and mayhem throughout the city." Robin informed Adrian and myself.

"Ah Captain! You've returned! I was, I mean we were all so worried." The lady in pink exclaimed before tripping over her heel and falling flat on her face, confirming that she was in fact Sumia.

"Sumia are you alright?" Chrom asked as he helped the poor klutz to her feet. "Was it those boots of yours again?"

"Um Chrom, who are those people behind you?" Sumia asked breaking the curse of our invisibility.

"Hi I'm Dylan, and I think I can safely speak for all of us when I say that it's nice to finally be noticed." I answered before Chrom could get a word in.

"I'm Adrian, and it's nice to meet all of you."

"And I'm Robin, and I'd like to second both of the previous statements."

"All right everyone, listen, everyone: we'll be marching to Regna Ferox in two days time, I suggest you take that time to adequately prepare for the trip and introduce yourselves to our newest recruits as they have to you. Any questions?" Chrom informed.

"I'm sorry but what's Regna Ferox?" Robin asked.

"Regna Ferox is a unified kingdom to Ylisse's north. It's said to be inhabited by barbarians. Sumia replied.

"Now just how far north are we talking about when you say north? Robin followed up.

"Far enough that we're probably going to want to pack some furs for everyone, and they're not barbarians they're warriors." Chrom responded.

"Warriors whose strength we'll likely need to quell this new menace." I interjected.

"Right. Now typically the exalt would request such aid in person. But given recent events, well the task has been passed to us for multiple reasons." Chrom said taking a deep breath before continuing, "That having been said this mission is strictly voluntary and Frederick and myself will already be going so don't feel like you have to go."

"I volunteer!" Everyone in the room except Chrom, Maribelle, Sumia and myself cheered at the same time.

"Well I think we'll have enough people for this mission." Chrom started.

"Wait! I-I'd like to go too, it's just that I don't think I'd be much help." Sumia stammered out nervously.

"Well you could just travel behind the main group, that way if a battle is met, you can just watch and learn." Chrom suggested, "It's your choice of course, but some lessons can only be learned on the field of battle."

"Well if you think it's wise." Sumia replied.

"Just stay behind me and you'll be fine." Chrom encouraged.

"Oh yes sir, I will!" Sumia beamed.

"Now if there's nothing else that needs to be done than I would like to show our new recruits to some empty rooms." Chrom said as he motioned for Robin, Adrian, and myself to follow him.

"Hey Chrom, do you think it would be at all possible for me to get some training in with you at some point before we leave for our mission?" I asked knowing full well I would likely regret it.

"Of course just let me find you three some empty rooms first." Chrom replied.

"You know it's strange, I didn't think you wanted to go on this mission." Chrom said once we were alone in the halls.

"Well you're kind of right, but it's not that I don't want to go with you." I replied sheepishly.

"So than why come with?" Chrom asked.

"I'm not sure I have a good answer to that, or an answer at all for that matter." I shrugged in response.

"That's okay you'll find one eventually and when you do you'll be all the better for it." Chrom encouraged as he handed me the key to my room.

"That was really wise, thank you, Chrom."

"No problem. Now if you want I can show you to the training area." Chrom grinned.

"Alright sure why not." I answered.


End file.
